SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- Content Delivery & Webcasting Services
- Notice Date
- 9/1/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 517919
— All Other Telecommunications
- Contracting Office
- United States House of Representatives, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, The Office of Acquisitions Management, Room 358, Ford House Office Building, Washington, District of Columbia, 20515, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20515
- Solicitation Number
- CABS08312011
- Archive Date
- 9/29/2011
- Point of Contact
- Jim Caskey, Phone: 202-226-2108
- E-Mail Address
-
jim.caskey@mail.house.gov
(jim.caskey@mail.house.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Content Delivery and Web-casting Services Request for Information RFI CABS08312011 August 31, 2011 Table of Contents I. Introduction and Purpose of Request For Information (RFI) 1 II. Background 2 III. Scope of Services. 3 IV. Description of Information Required. 6 A. Company Background. 6 B. CDN Response Format 6 C. Web-casting Toolsets Formats. 6 V. Pricing Information. 7 VI. House Disclaimer 8 VII. How to Respond. 9 •I. Introduction and Purpose of Request For Information (RFI) The Committees of the U. S. House of Representatives (House) has provided live web-cast video coverage of committee proceedings for over a decade. To provide this service, the Committees receive an electronic video feed from the House Recording Studio. Each Committee provides public access to these live web-casts and video recordings through their respective web sites. Since the original web-casting implementation, there has been considerable advancement in web-casting tools, formats and features. Additionally, the drive to harness innovations in technology to increase open government and transparency to citizens has become a priority for the House. The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the House supports the public Internet presence of the House and wishes to provide an enhanced web-casting solution. To fulfill this responsibility, the CAO intends to leverage Content Delivery Networks to ensure that (1) House public websites are highly available and (2) Committee public events can be reliably web-cast both live and on-demand. To accomplish these goals, the CAO is contemplating: •1. A single, highly reliable Content Delivery Network (CDN) provider with a national presence to fulfill both of the objectives outlined above. The CAO expects to make a single, multi-year award for a CDN provider. •2. Multiple innovative web-casting toolset [1] providers that can operate seamlessly with the selected CDN that House Committees can elect to use. The CAO may make multiple awards to fulfill this need. In addition, the CAO may make additional awards on an ongoing basis as new solutions are identified. The House will review the written responses to this RFI, and may elect to invite Respondents to give demonstrations to a review committee or meet for further discussion. The House may use the information gathered during this process to refine the requirements and capabilities on which to base a Request for Proposal (RFP). The House anticipates issuing a solicitation during the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2012. In addition to the information specifically requested, Respondents are encouraged to provide any additional information about their capabilities that may help the House better understand the real-world applications for their technology in improving services offered to Members and Committees. •II. Background HTTP Delivery Current State The CAO currently leverages a CDN to ensure that House sites are highly performing and highly available. The CAO manages and funds this program centrally and offers it as a free service to all of the 520+ House offices who maintain a public website. Committee Web-casting Current State The Committee Web-casting program was originally designed to combine the sourcing of 23 Committees into a single source contract. The program is funded through optional Committee participation and currently 16 of the Committees elect to participate. [2] Each Committee selects their preferred web-casting technology (encoders, formats, codecs, and bit rates), manages their individual accounts, and operates their equipment without formal guidance or oversight from the CAO. The CAO manages the contract and uses an internal charge-back mechanism based on Committee usage in GB delivered (or stored for archival storage). •III. Scope of Services The CAO wishes to provide a new enhanced web-casting video service displaying House Committee proceedings to the public as well as offering services to House Congressional Member offices. The new service will include video streaming with a time based index for each hearing available on each of the House Committee websites as close to real time as possible. The CAO seeks to combine the sourcing of content delivery for both HTTP Delivery and Committee web-casting to achieve a highly competitive rate that maximizes the overall value to the House. •1. The caching and delivery of 520+ public websites of the House. HTTP CDN Requirements include: Support for: •a) National reach; •b) 520 sub domains within House.gov and less than 30.gov domains; •c) Multiple origin servers - less than 50; •d) SSL support on at least 1 origin server. •e) Multiple configurations and caching times settings; and •f) Multiple accounts to manage configuration - less than 100. Optional services: •a) SSL support on multiple servers; •b) Mobile identification and redirection on 1 or more origin servers; [3] •c) Support for origin server protection - ensure that only CDN caching servers can connect to the origin servers. Under this scenario, no client should be able to bypass the CDN and connect to the origin directly; •d) Origin server outage protection - we are interested in capabilities that ensure that sites remain online during both scheduled and unscheduled outage of the origin server; •e) Support for top level domains, like House.gov and Speaker.gov (as opposed to www.House.gov and www.speaker.gov ); and •f) Any other service or capability that generally aligns with these objectives and requirements. •2. The live and archived web-casting of public events by the 23 Committees of the House. The Web-casting CDN must interoperate with multiple web-casting toolsets. Committee Web-casting CDN requirements include: •a) National reach; •b) Support for 23 Committees with separately managed accounts (child accounts) for each Committee. Reporting capabilities that allows the CAO to manage and track account wide usage as well as usage for each Committee; •c) Support for multiple formats and codecs; •d) Options for new media integration, including social media, mobile devices, smart TV's and other evolving devices and delivery channels; •e) Storage and delivery of archived content (as opposed to live content); and •f) Interoperability with multiple web-casting toolsets as described above. •1. •2. •3. Multiple options for Web-casting Toolsets. The CAO has explored many turn-key web-casting packages that combine the web-casting toolset (the encoders, formats, codecs, toolsets, API's, and value-add features) with a CDN for delivery. The CAO prefers that Committees have the option of selecting the web-casting toolset that best meets their requirements. The Web-casting Toolsets must interoperate with the selected Web-casting CDN in #1 above. The CAO envisions providing Committees a menu of Web-casting Toolsets that will interoperate with the selected CDN. Committee Web-casting Toolset Requirements •1. Web-casting toolsets must operate seamlessly with the CDN •2. The CAO seeks innovative solutions that: •a) Meet the House security requirements; [4] •b) Are widely accessible by end-users on multiple device types; •c) Are available via multiple delivery channels, such as social media, "smart" televisions and other emerging devices; and •d) To the extent possible, leverage open source or standards-based solutions for end clients. Respondents should assume that each Committee manages their encoder(s) within their facilities. Encoders are not centrally located within the House broadcast studio. Respondents are not responsible for documenting or architecting how production feeds from live events are transported from the House broadcast studio to the Committee facility. Assume that a usable analog broadcast feed can be routed to the necessary location by House engineers. •IV. Description of Information Required •A. Company Background •1. Respondents shall provide the name, email address and telephone number for the person the House should contact regarding the company's response to this RFI. •2. Describe the firm's line of business, markets served, the firm's size in terms of number of employees and annual revenue, and provide proof of the firm's financial stability. •3. Describe the firm's corporate strategy for delivering software solutions to industry and government clients. •4. Describe the nature and length of any partnerships/agreements the firm has with other equipment and software providers. •5. Provide at least one (1) case study for a completed project of similar size and scope to the House's. The case study should include a description of the client's environment prior to implementation, the system configuration provided by the Respondent, a list of features and applications included in the configuration, the total cost of the system provided by the Respondent, and the schedule for implementation. •B. CDN Response Format •1. Respondents should be clear in their pricing model and reporting capabilities. The CAO must apportion CDN usage costs for web-casting among participating Committees. •2. Respondents should be clear on how price varies by usage, archival storage, origin servers, sub domains supported, websites supported, Committees supported, or any other way that price might vary by usage or capacity. •3. Respondents should outline how their technical solution is open to third-party Web-casting Toolsets. •C. Web-casting Toolsets Formats •1. Respondents should outline how their solution can be made CDN agnostic or interoperable with the CDN selected in (1) above. •2. Respondents should describe any initial investment or implementation costs that Committees would be required to incur. •3. Respondents should outline clearly ongoing support, maintenance, or any other recurring costs that Committees might incur. •V. Pricing Information The CAO requires a pricing model that allows the House to obtain a very competitive rate by combining HTTP Delivery CDN and the Web-casting CDN into a single contract. The pricing model could be by total peak bandwidth, total content delivered, or both. Internally, the CAO will apportion costs to the respective Committees by their usage, so a flexible pricing model with excellent reporting capabilities is imperative to making this approach a success. •VI. House Disclaimer This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the House to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Respondents needing confidential treatment for any proprietary information they furnish must comply with the SEC's confidential treatment regulations at 17 C.F.R. 200.83. Responses to this RFI will not be returned. Respondents will not be notified of the result of the review. •VII. How to Respond Respondent questions may be submitted to Jim Caskey at Jim.Caskey@mail.house.gov up to 4:00 PM on Wednesday, September 14, 2011. No additional questions will be accepted after that time. Questions and answers will be published to all Respondents by close of business September 16, 2011. Please submit your response to this RFI via email to Jim Caskey not later than 4:00 PM on September 30, 2011. Responses are limited to 25 pages. Responses shall follow the same numbering scheme as defined in Section III of this RFI, and all numbered items in Section III of this RFI shall be addressed in the responses. For each of the system features described in Section III, Respondents are to clearly indicate whether that capability currently exists in the proposed solution by indicating "Included" or "Custom." [1] The term web-casting toolset refers to the encoders, formats, codecs, toolsets, API's, and any value-added features, functions or capabilities that are used to generate, produce or enhance the live or archived web-cast. [2] The other Committees elected to source these services directly which will remain their prerogative under any new program. [3] The CDN should identify mobile clients and redirect them to a different location, such as mobile.house.gov. Support for multiple redirections might be required to support multiple member websites. [4] Respondents who sign an NDA will be provided a copy of the House security requirements. Previous web streaming solutions have worked within the House network without significant modifications to the House security or network infrastructure.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/House/HOCAO/HOCAOOP/CABS08312011/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Capitol Hill Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C., 20515, United States
- Zip Code: 20515
- Zip Code: 20515
- Record
- SN02560292-W 20110903/110902103649-2334721d5cdc667582179623aedb00c5 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |